1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for checking a loading sequence for a semiconductor manufacturing process in a manufacturing device, and more particularly to a method for automatically checking a sequence of loading boats and batches for a semiconductor manufacturing process in a manufacturing device.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional furnace machine requires a specific boat for certain models or manufacturing processes, and in the past, operators calculate a loading sequence manually, and then place the material into a specified boat. However, errors often occur for the manual operations.
Additionally, as for the conventional furnace machine with a certain model or manufacturing process, the requirements for the runnable boat position for the material can be determined according to the parameter for the previous running operation. At this point, operators must look up the measuring results of the previous running operation by themselves, calculate the runnable boat position, schedule the loading sequence, and place the material into the runnable boat. Such operation has a risk of manual operation mistakes.
In order to avoid the risk of manual operation mistakes, the current furnace is further added with a furnace move-in double confirm mechanism. Referring to FIG. 1A, it mainly illustrates the move-in double confirm mechanism in the operation flow of the furnace.
Firstly, as shown in 1A, the whole operation flow includes a manual operation checking stage and a confirm stage. The manual operation checking stage includes a dispatch determining procedure 110, in which the information about the material precautions 112 relevant to the furnace operation, the maximum number of executable batches 114, and the execution results 116 of the previous running operation are firstly obtained, so as to perform the dispatching procedure 110. Next, the dispatching data is inputted into the machine end, and a boat table 118 of the machine end is generated. Subsequently, according to the boat table 118 at the machine end, the operators calculate the loading sequence 120 by themselves.
Thereafter, in the confirm stage, the aforementioned furnace move-in double confirm mechanism is employed. After the loading sequence is calculated, and the material enters the station 122 successfully, a double confirm interface 124 is popped up in the machine to let the user know whether the current boat batch is consistent with the loading sequence or not. In this interface, the current loading sequence is displayed, and through a simple input device, for example, reading a bar code on the boat, whether the boat batch is correct or not may be displayed. As shown in the figure, the content in the loading batch is compared with the content displayed on the double confirm interface 124 to confirm whether they are consistent or not (step 126). If they are inconsistent, as shown in Step 128, a loading failure is displayed, and the machine cannot load the material or run the process. However, if they are consistent, as shown in Step 130, a loading succeed is displayed, and the machine begins to load the material and manufacturing process.
The detailed operation flow of the furnace move-in double confirm mechanism is shown in FIG. 1B. Firstly, the move-in operation is performed, as shown in Step 132. Next, it is determined whether this batch has been loaded completely or not, as shown in Step 134. If the batch has already been loaded, as shown in Step 136, the double confirm user interface (UI) is closed. If the batch has not been loaded yet, as shown in Step 138, a load request is sent to the machine. Then, as shown in Step 140, an open door command is sent out. After the open door command for the furnace is sent out, as shown in Step 142, a user interface (UI) is popped out in the machine, so as to detect whether the ID of a cassette is correct or not. If it is incorrect, as shown in Step 146, a frame is popped up to display that the batch material is reported to be incorrect, and after the confirmation, the ID data of the cassette in the field of the incorrect batch material should be deleted, which is convenient for the second confirmation. If the ID of the cassette is correct, as shown in Step 144, the furnace opening is informed to be closed, and then, the flow returns to Step 134 to determine whether the next batch has been completed or not.
FIG. 1C shows the UI popped out in the machine. In the frame 150, the number of the Port ID is shown, such as “1” and “2” shown in the field. The row data marked by 152 mainly shows boat numbers ordered by the machine, such as “69298” and “69299” in the figure, and the field of the row data marked by 152 is mainly provided for being compared with the boat number obtained by the user through using a bar code reader. For example, if the boat number (the position marked with 156 in the figure) read by the bar code reader corresponding to the Port ID numbered with 1 is “69298”, and the boat number (the position marked with 158 in the figure) corresponding to the Port ID numbered with 2 is “69299”, the data is considered to be correct after being compared by the machine. However, if the boat number read by the bar code reader corresponding to the Port ID numbered with 1 is not “69298”, and the boat number corresponding to the Port ID numbered with 2 is not “69299”, an error report message is popped out after being compared by the machine, such as the error report message frame 160 shown in FIG. 1D.
The move-in double confirm mechanism is added into the machine, which truly decreases the errors for the human determination. However, only the batches entering into the station are compared, but the loading sequence cannot be checked.